Euclid School District may change start date of future school years

Euclid School District is considering a possible change to when school will start for the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 school years.
These unofficial calendars, which have not be voted on by the Euclid School Board, would push the start of school up to the first week of August for teachers and the second week of August for students.
Compared to the 2014-2015 calendar, where students start at the end of August, this proposed change would have students in class about 2 1/2 weeks earlier.
“As we look toward the changes in educational testing, it has become critical that we re-examine our school calendar to not only meet the instructional needs of our students, but also establish consistency from year to year,” said Euclid Superintendent Keith Bell in a written statement. “(Partnership for Assessment for Readiness of College and Careers) testing includes two separate testing windows: a PBA, or performance-based assessment, that is meant to occur after three-quarters of instruction has taken place; and an EOY, or end-of-year assessment, that is meant to occur as close to the end of the school year as possible.”
With the earlier start date, the district determined there will be more instructional days prior to testing, 113, over a later start date, which is only 106 days.
“To allow our teachers the proper time to cover standards assessed by these tests, they will need more instructional time than we currently have in our calendar,” Bell said. “In addition to the advantage gained by instructional days prior to the testing windows, this change to the calendar would also have the significant advantages of allowing us to end first semester prior to winter break.”
Those advantages include: Students will no longer need to study for finals over winter break because finals would be taken before break and a new semester would start when students and teachers return; teachers will not need to review material after break, which causes a loss in instruction time; a similar alignment to a college calendar to prepare students for higher education; the ability for staff and students on the same break schedule; and an additional planned professional day after winter break to finish grading and complete any unfinished business, according to the district.
“We all want our students to be as successful as possible,” Bell said. “We understand there will be challenges and will work in a collaborate fashion to address as many as possible to ensure a smooth transition. I also know that this staff has demonstrated time and time again that it can work through all obstacles when the rationale is supported by what’s best for our kids.”
Kay Van Ho, Euclid School Board president, said the board is looking into all possible issues with starting early in the summer, such as Euclid High School with no air conditioning.
“We know the high school is going to be hot, because it is a hot building that faces west in the afternoon sun,” she said. "We are seeing what our options are to make it more comfortable, but ultimately this is what’s best for our kids.”
With this possible change, students would get out of school early as well, with students finishing before Memorial Day.
“This gives us more classroom hours before testing which is important,” Van Ho said. “We need to give our students the biggest advantage because they come in with several disadvantages.”
She added that ending the first semester before winter break will ultimately bring more success to students as well.
An earlier start will not affect kindergarten cutoff, which is Aug. 1, and the district will work as hard as it can to get information out to the community so students aren’t registering extremely late into the school year, she said.
This proposal is not final and the board has not made a decision on this possible new calendar. A decision is expected to be made sometime this summer.
“It’s better for kids, and almost everyone recognizes it’s a good decision for the kids,” she said. “It’s very logical and it just makes a lot of sense.”

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